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Women’s Special Issue Series: Sustainable Energy

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (22 March 2023) | Viewed by 4879

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Maria Elena Bruni

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Guest Editor

Department of Mechanical Energy and Management Engineering, University of Calabria, 87036 Rende, Italy
Interests: energy; optimization; uncertainty

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

I am delighted to present this special collection of articles highlighting the achievements of women scientists in addressing the challenges related to the energy transition.

Energy transition will bring massive opportunities not only the production, transmission efficiency and consumption of energy, but also in the way companies address the key challenges of the transition. In this respect, it will likely create global opportunities for innovation, investments, and partnerships and will strengthen the role of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) factors in companies financial performance and reputation.

This Special Issue aim is to spotlight and share findings on innovative solutions that will face the emerging challenges above described, gathering contributions on advanced models, methodologies, technologies, best practices and innovative solutions for making energy systems sustainable and companies resilient.

Original research articles, short communications, position papers and reviews are welcome from all authors, irrespective of gender identity.

Topics of interest for publication include but are not limited to the following:

Sustainable/green consumption and production systems;
Sustainable/green supply chain management and optimization;
Sustainable/green transportation systems;
Sustainable development;
Drivers of sustainable innovation and technology;
Vulnerability, resilience, and uncertainty issue in sustainability.
Energy innovation and smart communities and cities;
Renewable energy production;
Cost and benefit of renewable energy consumption;
Management of green energy;
Technological innovation and energy;

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Maria Elena Bruni
Guest Editor

Women’s Special Issue Series

This Special Issue is part of Sustainability’s Women’s Special Issue Series, hosted by women editors for women researchers. The Series advocates the advancement of women in science. We invite contributions to the Special Issue whose lead authors identify as women. The submission of articles with all-women authorship is especially encouraged. However, we do welcome articles from all authors, irrespective of gender.

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research, Other

2 pages, 156 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

MDPI Sustainability: Special Issue: “Women’s Special Issue Series: Sustainable Energy”

by Maria Elena Bruni

Sustainability 2022, 14(8), 4470; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14084470 - 08 Apr 2022

Viewed by 929

Abstract

The conflict in Europe in 2022, in addition to the horrible humanitarian consequences, is also affecting the global energy markets and energy prices, threatening economic growth and lives worldwide [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Women’s Special Issue Series: Sustainable Energy)

Research

Jump to: Editorial, Other

25 pages, 3107 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Developments in Bioelectricity and Perspectives in Italy: An Analysis of Regional Production Patterns

by Andrea Savio, Giovanni Ferrari, Francesco Marinello, Andrea Pezzuolo, Maria Cristina Lavagnolo and Mariangela Guidolin

Sustainability 2022, 14(22), 15030; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142215030 - 14 Nov 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1088

Abstract

Bioenergy is being increasingly used worldwide to generate energy from biogas, biomethane, and other biofuels, bringing significant environmental and economic benefits. In Italy, biogas can significantly contribute to the achievement of the renewable energy targets set at the national and European levels. The exploitation of this energy source in a particular area is determined by its environmental and anthropic properties, as well as by the incentive system and the political will of decision makers. This paper analyzes the socioeconomic drivers and natural conditions triggering bioelectricity production in Italian regions. The analysis proposed here was performed in two steps—first, by identifying groups of similar regions for some natural, social, and economic variables, and then by modeling the historical trajectory of bioelectricity production for each identified group with innovation diffusion models. As a general finding, regions pertaining to the same group in terms of natural and socioeconomic conditions revealed a similar production pattern for bioelectricity, as confirmed by the results of diffusion modeling. On the basis of the diffusion modeling procedure, some scenario simulations were performed, which suggested the set-up of suitable policy actions for each group of regions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Women’s Special Issue Series: Sustainable Energy)

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14 pages, 386 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Variable Neighborhood Descent Matheuristic for the Drone Routing Problem with Beehives Sharing

by Maria Elena Bruni and Sara Khodaparasti

Sustainability 2022, 14(16), 9978; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14169978 - 12 Aug 2022

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 1488 | Correction

Abstract

In contemporary urban logistics, drones will become a preferred transportation mode for last-mile deliveries, as they have shown commercial potential and triple-bottom-line performance. Drones, in fact, address many challenges related to congestion and emissions and can streamline the last leg of the supply chain, while maintaining economic performance. Despite the common conviction that drones will reshape the future of deliveries, numerous hurdles prevent practical implementation of this futuristic vision. The sharing economy, referred to as a collaborative business model that foster sharing, exchanging and renting resources, could lead to operational improvements and enhance the cost control ability and the flexibility of companies using drones. For instance, the Amazon patent for drone beehives, which are fulfilment centers where drones can be restocked before flying out again for another delivery, could be established as a shared delivery systems where different freight carriers jointly deliver goods to customers. Only a few studies have addressed the problem of operating such facilities providing services to retail companies. In this paper, we formulate the problem as a deterministic location-routing model and derive its robust counterpart under the travel time uncertainty. To tackle the computational complexity of the model caused by the non-linear energy consumption rates in drone battery, we propose a tailored matheuristic combining variable neighborhood descent with a cut generation approach. The computational experiments show the efficiency of the solution approach especially compared to the Gurobi solver. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Women’s Special Issue Series: Sustainable Energy)

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